Collapsible containers for use in the aircraft industry are known in the art for containing, storing and transporting various parcels. Although such containers are used primarily for various parcels, they even have been used for storing luggage in passenger aircraft. In the parcel industry, such containers act as sorting devices to sort the parcels by destination, for instance.
For example, collapsible containers have been fabricated of corrugated side panels which may be made of paper board or plastic. The panels actually are stamped from blanks and folded into a given configuration or shape. Such corrugated containers typically are too heavy, labor intensive to open and collapse and lack durability particularly at the fold lines or creases which become weak.
Other containers are made with frameworks which may or may not include side panels of sheet metal or canvas, but such containers do not fold sufficiently into small configurations. The present invention is directed to solving these problems and satisfying the need of providing a collapsible cargo container assembly which is tough, durable and flexible. The assembly is of light weight and can be collapsed to a configuration on the order of 10% of its expanded size. The container assembly is tear resistant, chemical resistant, fatigue resistant, UV resistant, flame resistant and with low gas permeability.
Although the invention is described herein for particular use in aircraft, it also is very useful on other transportation carriers such as trucks, trailers, ships and the like.